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scribes, although we know nothing of its elements or the 

 reasons for giving it. 



We build a machine in conformity to a drawing fur- 

 nished by the inventor, and it accomplishes the desired 

 purpose, however ignorant the builder may be of the 

 mechanical laws that make it eifective. 



In like manner the cultivator profits by the discove- 

 ries of science, however small may be his own scientific 

 knowledge. But while I insist upon the obvious truth 

 that it is not necessary that every farmer should be a 

 scientist, I am very far from going to the opposite ex- 

 treme and asserting that it is immaterial whether he has 

 any scientific knowledge at all. On the contrary, I believe 

 that every intelligent farmer and mechanic unavoidably 

 acquires a large amount of scientific knowledge, and 

 which is none the less science because he may not call it 

 by that name. 



And I believe that this knowledge may be largely and 

 beneficially increased without encroaching too much on 

 the time necessarily devoted to manual labor. Science 

 is another name for knowledge, and art, as I have said, 

 is an application of knowledge and skill to produce a 

 desired result. And it is precisely by this combination 

 of science and art, of knowledge and practical skill, that 

 the highest excellence is attained and the greatest re- 

 sults are achieved. I know many intelligent, laborious 

 farmers who may with truth be called scientific cultiva- 

 tors, and many clear-headed, hard working, mechanics, 

 who may, with equal truth, be called scientific artisans ; 

 and it is one of the most pleasing and encouraging facts 

 of the age that these classes of men thanks to the diffu- 

 sion of knowledge and a higher estimate of the dignity 

 of labor and of the useful arts are steadily on the in- 

 crease. And it is by far the greatest merit, gentlemen, 

 of associations like yours that they promote the growth 

 of such men and increase their usefulness from year to 



